Billed as Alberta’s heritage, arts and culture magazine, Legacy will cease operations after the release of its Winter 2009 issue. The decision to close the magazine which has been in print for 14 years was made not for financial reasons or lack of advertising but simply because the time has come, said publisher and editor Barbara Dacks.

Run by part-time staff with content produced by freelance writers, the magazine has a combined paid and controlled circulation of 12,000 and a readership of between 50,000 and 60,000. It has paid subscriptions for every school library in the province of Alberta. It also supplies Alberta and Vancouver’s Air Canada lounges with copies of the magazine. Subscribers of the quarterly magazine will be reimbursed for any additional copies they will not receive due to the closure.

Dacks said the magazine, which has featured acclaimed Alberta writers sharing their insights on destinations, gardens, profiles, books, food, music, and provocative ideas could have kept going for years to come. “We could keep this magazine going for another 1,800 years and still keep hearing stories,” she said. “But the time has come. I loved making the magazine, publishing the stories. I am fortunate to have worked with the people I did and am proud of the writers we have featured.”

As for the future, Dacks said that she and Legacy co-owner Gurston Dacks hope to publish two books under the company name in the next year. “Fourteen years of magazine deadlines is enough,” she said. “We’re looking towards books. They have looser deadlines.”